DLMS 36

chapter 36

At the same time, in Hongcha’s studio.

“Hey, can’t we just delete this comment?”

The editor showed Hongcha a comment.

Didn’t someone get cut midway? There was a male contestant who sang the best, but why did he disappear?

It was a comment from someone who remembered Yoo Jae-hee.
The likes on it had already climbed to seventy-six.

“Leave it. Deleting something like that would only make people more suspicious.”
“Damn it, why do people even post crap like this?”
“Nothing we can do about it.”
“You’d better be careful too. From now on, don’t bring in any of your close friends to Hongraebang if you can help it.”
“Yeah, I don’t even meet up with friends who are good at singing these days. Just in case.”

The suspicions about pre-arranged casting in Hongraebang first popped up earlier this year.

It started with someone claiming that one of the participants already knew Hongcha personally.
But Hongcha and the participant both denied it.
In the end, no solid proof surfaced.

After that, similar suspicions arose a few more times—
but they always fizzled out as just speculation.

Still, recently the number of people questioning the show seemed to be increasing, and that had the editor worried.

“Hey, what if we just go back to the way it was in the beginning?”
“Are you out of your damn mind? Do you know how hard it is to find people who sing well on the street?”

Hongcha snapped at the editor.
Sure, the channel had been built on manipulation and payoffs.
But now that he’d tasted money, there was no way he was giving it up.

“Man, these days people are always ranting about fake shows and hidden sponsorships. It’s risky.”
“We just have to make sure we don’t get caught. What about Yoo Jae-hee’s video?”
“I kept it, just in case.”
“What? Why the hell would you keep it? Delete it immediately!”

Both Hongcha and the editor thought they could brush off the Yoo Jae-hee incident.
It had been two days since the video was uploaded.
So far, nothing threatening had happened.

“Let’s just focus on the next video. The next set of people are already lined up. Forget about this.”
“Yeah, fine.”

Hongcha let the matter slide and busied himself with preparing the next content.

Nothing had happened yet, and he didn’t expect anything would.

“Ahhh… nothing beats a drink after work.”

Does this guy seriously drink like this every night?

Probably?

Im Taehyun had gone out of his way to meet me in my neighborhood.
A small bar in Sillim.
It was a place he and I often went to.

Most of the customers were regulars,
so it was familiar and comfortable for us too.

We skipped small talk. Taehyun and I clinked soju glasses and dove straight into business.

“Hey, do you know something?”
“What about you?”
“……”

Oh? Are you two having a staring contest?

For a while, silence hung between us.
Only the chatter of other patrons and the music filled the bar.
Our table alone was quiet.

We exchanged sharp glances,
a tension seeming to build.

“Pfft!”
“Puhahaha!”

Then suddenly we both burst into laughter.
I poured my friend another drink.

“Man, this vibe doesn’t suit us at all.”
“Haha! Yoo Jae-hee, your acting’s really improved, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah? Maybe I should try acting for real then.”
“……”
“Okay, okay, relax. I won’t.”

We returned to normal after our brief little mock showdown.

Wait, that was a joke? Boring…

“Hey, did you ever meet up with Hongcha?”

Taehyun downed another drink before asking.

“Nope. Never.”
“Hmm, really?”
“Or… did I? Should I say yes?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean, I went on Hongraebang last time, but I got cut from the broadcast.”
“What? How’d you even get on there?”

Taehyun looked at me, surprised—
as if it was unthinkable that I could appear on Hongraebang.

“I just raised my hand, and they let me sing.”
“No way…”

It felt like Taehyun knew something, but he wasn’t revealing it yet.
I figured he’d tell me in his own time, so I didn’t press.

“Anyway, they cut me out completely.”
“So you didn’t pay, huh?”
“Pay? Pay what?”

Taehyun grinned knowingly.
Clearly, there was more to this.

Since becoming a journalist, Taehyun had shared drinks with me like this a few times.
He’d often tell me about articles he was working on, or stories he had but hadn’t published yet.

Technically, journalists were supposed to guard their sources carefully.
But I was the exception.

Sure, it wasn’t cautious of him.
But he trusted me.
And I never intended to leak his secrets anywhere.

Well, you didn’t have any friends before anyway, so who could you even tell?

‘Shut up, you damn demon!’

Hehe, but it’s true, isn’t it?

The demon laughed, poking at old wounds.

“You know why they cut you?”
“No. Do you?”
“I told you, you didn’t pay Hongcha.”
“Pay? Don’t tell me…”

Pay? Oh, so the whole thing’s rigged?

The pieces started to fall into place.

“It’s a hundred percent fake. They take money and pre-select the contestants.”
“Then how did I even perform?”
“……”

That part didn’t make sense.
I hadn’t paid.
By their system, I shouldn’t have been able to perform at all.

But neither of us knew how to explain that.

The only thing clear was that Taehyun had some leverage.

“But how did you know it was fake?”
“Someone tipped me off.”
“A tip? From who?”
“A junior at my office told me.”

Taehyun said he’d heard the story while chatting with a colleague on the rooftop.

The junior’s acquaintance had recently appeared on Hongraebang.
They’d paid a huge sum to get on,
but their interview was short,
and they got no real response.

Afterward, they tried to get closer to Hongcha, hoping to boost their popularity.
But Hongcha’s side brushed them off.

Maybe it was because Hongcha was being cautious.
But the participant thought they were being disrespected.

Frustrated, they begged for another appearance—
only to be rejected.
So, out of spite, they tipped off Taehyun’s junior reporter.

That junior, being too inexperienced to handle it, passed it on to Taehyun.

“Wow…”

I couldn’t help but be surprised.

Whoa…

The demon was too.
For the same reason.

“The motive for the tip is so childish. What is this, a schoolyard spat?”

Exactly. That’s just petty.

“Right? The kid’s only twenty. Probably too immature to know better.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
“Still, it works out for us.”
“True enough…”

“Anyway, the participant’s video is still up on the Hongraebang channel. We even have an interview recorded.”
“When are you dropping it?”
“Soon, probably.”

Suddenly, an idea struck me.
A perfect way to use this incident for my own purposes.

“Hey, is there a rush? Do you have to publish it right away?”
“No, not really. It’s not even my article.”
“Oh?”
“My junior’s writing it. It’ll be their first piece.”
“Hmm… Can you hold off a bit?”
“Why?”

So I made my pitch.
And I showed him the ace I had up my sleeve.

“Oh… Yoo Jae-hee…”
“Just give me a little time.”

Taehyun studied me for a moment, then poured himself another shot and downed it.

“Alright. But you’d better keep me updated. We need to time this right.”
“Yeah, got it.”

And just like that, our deal was sealed.

While Yoo Jae-hee and Taehyun were meeting,
Lee Jong-in was handling the favor Jae-hee had asked of him.

-Okay, I’ll leave it in your hands.
-Yes, don’t worry!

He wrapped up a Facebook chat with someone.
The moment he got home, he’d turned on his computer and made contact.

“Alright… that’s done.”

Finished, he lay down on his bed, scrolling through his phone.

• RnT Entertainment A&R recruitment.

• Big Star Entertainment A&R recruitment.

• Durirecords A&R / Producer recruitment.

• JS Entertainment A&R team ongoing recruitment.

• Golden Onion New Artist Development team recruitment.

“Sigh… So many postings, but none of them for me…”

After asking Jae-hee for career advice, he’d sent applications everywhere.
But all had come back rejections.

It wasn’t easy.

Lately, he’d been wondering if music was really his path.

In truth, Jong-in’s musical strengths were… awkward.

As both the demon and Jae-hee had noticed,
he was great at deciding a song’s concept and leading the direction.
But technically, his composition skills were weaker.

He had talent as an arranger, or a recording director.
But as a main producer? Still lacking.

Musicians like that often struggled to find jobs.
Those instincts only shone when working directly with others.

On paper, in submitted materials, his strengths were hard to show.
And Jong-in knew that well.

That’s why he’d been on the verge of giving up this path…
until Yoo Jae-hee came along.

With just a small piece of advice, Jae-hee had pushed him to try again.

But landing a job in the entertainment industry was never that simple.

“I can’t even manage my own path right now…”

Still, Jong-in kept helping Jae-hee with various small tasks.

On his monitor, the Facebook chat window was still open.
He wondered if all he was doing was playing the role of someone else’s support.

“Haa…”

His thoughts grew heavier…
until at some point, he drifted off to sleep.

The next few days passed without incident.

I balanced homework and exams while focusing on my music.

Though sometimes I was interrupted by distracting chatter.

Here we go again. Again! Shut the hell up already, you idiots!

‘You’re the loudest one here.’

Even during breaks, I sometimes heard people badmouthing me.

Of course, only the demon heard them, not me.

They said I lied about being on Hongraebang.

It wasn’t like the whole school was talking about me.
According to the demon, it was just four people.
And two of them were already known gossips.

Naturally, I had no idea.
The demon was the one feeding me this info.

Spreading rumors without knowing the truth… Those losers will waste their whole lives gossiping until they die!

‘Whoa, that’s harsh.’

Me? They’re worse than demons. No wonder we never run out of work!

‘I get it. But honestly, I don’t care. It doesn’t bother me.’

Really? Then good.

‘You’re the only one who bothers me, with your endless yapping.’

What? How dare you call the great demon’s words “yapping”? Insolent human!

‘Ugh, you’re so damn noisy.’

I covered my ears theatrically—
but of course, his voice still rang out.

Hey, hey. Take your hands off your ears. Your phone’s ringing.

‘Huh?’